Highlights

Software major IBM on Thursday opened its first "Machine Learning (ML) Hub" in Bengaluru which would provide a physical space to organisations for hands-on training on machine learning.

Through the 'ML Hubs', data professionals, business analysts and engineers could work with IBM's data science experts to understand and learn the technology to visualise, analyse and interpret data.

"'Machine Learning' termed by an IBMer decades ago has evolved significantly. Today, it is the entry point to the cognitive era, enabling enterprises to drive critical insights. With India's focus on digitisation, it's an apt time for organisations to make this transition," said Gaurav Sharma, Vice President, IBM India Software Labs and Vice President, Growth IBM India & South Asia.

IBM 'ML Hub' also provides a platform for like-minded enterprises to collaborate and transform their data science processes.

The company has similar 'ML Hubs' in Toronto, San Jose, California, at IBM's Silicon Valley Lab, Beijing, and Boblingen, Germany.

Earlier this week, IBM reported a lower-than-expected quarterly revenue, as growth in its higher-margin businesses that include cloud and artificial intelligence services failed to make up for declines across legacy business segments.

Armonk, New York-based IBM has in recent years shifted focus to pockets of growth across its business — high-margin areas such as cloud, cyber-security and data analytics — to counter a slowdown in its hardware and software businesses.

Revenue from these initiatives, which IBM calls "strategic imperatives," rose 5 percent in the second quarter ended June 30.

However, some analysts have expressed concern that IBM's aggressive investments in areas such as artificial intelligence offering Watson have done little to boost revenue overall.